Producing ammonia.



UMTED snares Parana oration.

CARL BOSCH, OF LUD'WIGSHAFEN-ON-THE-RHINE, GERMANY, ASSIGN'OR T0IBADISCHE ANILIN & SODA FABRIK, OF LUDWIGSHAFEN-OlN-THE-RHINE, GERMANY,A COR- POEATION.

' PRODUCING AMMONIA.

1 243 332 Specification of Letters Patent.

No Drawing. Application filed January 12, 1914. Serial No. 811,677.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL Boson, citizen of the German Empire, residingat Ludwigshafen-on-the-Rhine, Germany, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Producing Ammonia, .of which the following is aspecification.

It has been found that, when manufacturing ammonia from its elements bymeans of catalytic agents in large contact apparatus under pressure andespecially when employing very active catalytic agents and highpressure, the yield of ammonia decreases after working for some time. Ihave found that this decrease is not necessarily due to deteriorationofthe catalytic agent,

'but that, even in those cases in which no extra heat is supplied to thesystem, the temperature of the catalytic agent can rise to such a degreethat the conversion of the gaseous mixture into ammonia diminishes. Thisobjection I overcome by subjecting the interior of the catalytic agentto re lated cooling, such as is unnecessary in t e case of working withsmall contact apparatus where a regular, or even continuous, supply ofheat (for instance by means of electrically heated wires) is requlsite.The cooling of the contact agent according to my invention can beeifected easily, on a manufacturing scale, by passing cooling fluidthrough a spiral tube situated in the catalytic agent; 7

for example, a cold mixture of ga'ses,-such for instance as thatemployed for passing through the catalytic agent for the production ofammonia, can be passed throughv the coil under the same pressure as thatemployed in the production of ammonia and, in this case, the inside andoutside walls of the spiral tube are not subject to great differences ofpressure. The invention is not, however, limited to this precise Way ofeffecting the cooling.

Now what I claim is:

1. In the process of producing ammonia by passing nitrogen and hydrogenover a hot catalytic agent, the step which consists in subjecting theinterior of the catalytic agent to a regulated cooling.

2. In the process of producing ammonia by passing nitrogen and hydrogenover a hot catalytic agent, the step which consists in subjecting theinterior of the catalytic a nt to a regulated cooling by means of gas wich is subsequently passed over the said catalytic agent.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

CARL BOSCH. [n s.]

Witnesses:

ERNEST G. EHRHARDT, S. S. BERGER.

Patented (Bot. 16, 3191?.

